Astros report: Bo Porter to don Texans jersey on upcoming road trip

Bo Porter said the Astros have opted to wear pro jerseys as their travel gear on a Sept. 4 trip to Oakland because if they opted for college uniforms, “you might have some fights on your hands (among players). They’ve already started arguing about the different cupcake schedules that some teams are playing.”

Porter said he plans to don a Texans jersey bearing Andre Johnson’s number 80 on the Oakland trip. The college reference, however, led to the inevitable about whether the Big Ten, where Porter played at Iowa under coach Hayden Fry, also resorts to scheduling lower-division teams.

“No, not in the Big Ten. No cupcakes,” Porter said. “Actually, I’m losing track of the Big Ten. I don’t know how many teams are in the Big Ten anymore.”

It’s 12, actually. And, as Porter indicated, the Big Ten schedule is relatively short on FCS opponents. Indiana-Indiana State is the only one on the opening-week schedule, followed by Purdue-Indiana State the following week and, alas, FCS school Missouri State, coming off a 3-8 season last year, against Porter’s Hawkeyes.

Osterman takes the mound

Cat Osterman may be a Hall of Famer, but she’s still pitching.

The two-time Olympic medalist and former University of Texas All-America who starred for Cypress Springs announced at the beginning of this season that 2013 would be her last year with the National Pro Fastpitch softball league’s USSA Pride.

In August, however, she announced she would return for the 2014 season and, after leading the Pride, which plays at the Astros’ spring training base in Kissimmee, Fla., to the league title, she was back in Houston to throw out the first pitch for Friday’s game.

“(The 2012 season) was hard on me physically, and I thought I was getting to that point,” Osterman, 30, said. “But when this season started, i found my love for it again and unretired with about a month left in the season.”

Osterman was inducted earlier this year into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, joining former Texas A&M pitcher Shawn Andaya as the only softball pitchers honored by the museum in Waco.

“It shows that in Texas, softball is a big deal and that people recognize those of us who played before it grew,” she said. “It’s great for our sport for both of us to be there.”